Facebook adding privacy controls. I might use it now.
Written By Tyme on Mar. 18, 2008.
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I just wrote about this issue on 3by9 but I honestly never thought Facebook would start implementing it so quickly (thank goodness they are listening to their users because there is a group(s) set up about this issue). From Techcrunch:
The new privacy controls, which will launch on Wednesday morning, allow users to do more with Friend Lists. Users can now set specific privacy controls for different friend groups, said Naomi Gleit, a Facebook product manager. Users can create a friend grouping for co-workers, for example, and share different profile information, updates and other information such as photo albums with that group. Users can put friends into multiple groups.
VP Product Matt Cohler said the new controls are needed. Four years ago, he said, Facebook was perfect for students at private college networks. Today, though, Facebook has 67 million active users, and 2/3 of them live outside the U.S. The privacy controls needed by this wider group are different, he said.
That might put Facebook over and above all the other social sites (MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, et al) simply because I can manage my friends. I don't see myself using their IM service - it's AIM/Yahoo/Gtalk overkill.
Are you guys happy about being able to group your friends or do you not care? :)
JPhill
Written Mar. 18, 2008 / Report /
Personally, I don't really care at this point (about the privacy stuff), but I think it's really good they're doing this, especially with the amount of personal info that people are putting in their profiles these days.
I haven't had any privacy issues thus far, but I'm sure I'll find a need to further edit my settings for various people in the future. I've yet to utilize organizing friends into groups, but I want to soon.
Tyme
Written Mar. 18, 2008 / Report /
I don't have privacy issues - yet, but I can see it coming. I have a unique situation though. I am friends on Facebook with 9rules members/users, friendly competitors, friends, etc. Those are groups that normally do not mix. I wouldn't want my next door neighbor in my work space or my daughter's teachers watching everything I do (some of them follow my site) professionally and personally. If that makes sense LOL.
leliathomas
Written Mar. 18, 2008 / Report /
I'll second JPhill. I tend to always be in the mindset that if I don't want the world to possibly know something, I'm probably not going to put it online. However, there are a bunch of people that don't think like this, so they're in desperate need of this sort of functionality. This is a sign that Facebook listens to people's concerns, I think.
veronique
Written Mar. 19, 2008 / Report /
That's awesome news. THank you for sharing
bitsonewmedia
Written Mar. 21, 2008 / Report /
Yeah, I didn't think this would happen as fast either. I saw Mark Zuckerburg speak at SXSWi and he was talking about these changes like they were months away. I guess being a giant like Facebook means you have to keep things really close to the vest. Not sure why.
paulbjensen
Written Apr. 7, 2008 / Report /
Apparently privacy is the big issue this year, what with people losing their jobs via their Facebook profiles.
I'm working at an open-messaging/social-networking start-up which is trying to tackle this issue in an intuitive way.
When it comes to privacy, I'm very liberal with what I put on my Facebook page, but when it comes to writing a message, I often put a lot of thought into what I write.